Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) Reaches New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Shares of Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $299.05 and last traded at $296.8910, with a volume of 2143229 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $283.74.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on MPC. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Marathon Petroleum from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $257.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Marathon Petroleum from $174.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Zacks Research cut shares of Marathon Petroleum from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $335.00 target price on shares of Marathon Petroleum and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Marathon Petroleum currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $283.56.

Marathon Petroleum Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $87.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.18. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $259.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $225.73.

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The oil and gas company reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.91. The company had revenue of $34.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. Marathon Petroleum had a return on equity of 16.22% and a net margin of 3.36%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.24) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Marathon Petroleum Corporation will post 34.58 EPS for the current year.

Marathon Petroleum Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th were paid a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 20th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. Marathon Petroleum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.11%.

Insider Activity at Marathon Petroleum

In other news, VP Michael A. Henschen II sold 6,336 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.82, for a total transaction of $1,703,243.52. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 16,900 shares in the company, valued at $4,543,058. The trade was a 27.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Marathon Petroleum

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MPC. Walker Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Marathon Petroleum during the second quarter worth approximately $207,000. Tema ETFs LLC lifted its position in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 9.6% in the second quarter. Tema ETFs LLC now owns 4,972 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,271,000 after buying an additional 435 shares during the last quarter. City Holding Co. boosted its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. City Holding Co. now owns 14,236 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,640,000 after acquiring an additional 370 shares during the period. Financial Management Professionals Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 14.5% during the 2nd quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 958 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $245,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares during the period. Finally, Harrell Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Marathon Petroleum by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC now owns 30,317 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $7,751,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.77% of the company’s stock.

Marathon Petroleum Company Profile

Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: MPC) is a U.S.-based downstream energy company engaged principally in the refining, marketing, supply and transportation of petroleum products. The company was formed through a spin-off from Marathon Oil in 2011 and operates an integrated system of refining and logistics assets that support the production and distribution of transportation fuels and other refined petroleum products.

Marathon Petroleum’s operations include refining crude oil into gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, asphalt and other specialty products, as well as managing the distribution and storage infrastructure needed to move those products to market.